Currently, the Internet is a great tool for vacation planning by providing access to a variety of information, as well as reservation systems. Users who travel to certain destinations or within a given geographical area oftentimes like to use the Internet in advance to gather more information regarding their destination and to purchase tickets for activities, events, etc. for the duration of their trip. Prior art systems provide such information and reservation capabilities for lodging and transportation service providers, by retrieving availability information from the service providers' own inventory management systems and providing it to the end users.
Unfortunately, such systems do not provide information regarding recreational activities provided by small activity operators. Activity operators at resorts, such as ski school operators, dogsled operators, horseback riding operators, snowmobile operators, ice climbing operators, plane tours operators, tubing operators, etc., oftentimes do not have the resources to acquire and implement adequate inventory management/account software that would permit them to interface with the prior art web reservation systems described above.
Furthermore, the prohibitive costs related to interactive web systems setup and maintenance prevent such activity operators to use electronic channels for advertising and selling their services to clients. Users at a destination could benefit from accessing terminals allowing them to search through recreational activities offered by local activity operators and make reservations depending on activity availabilities.
There exists therefore a need for a system providing reservation and inventory management functions for recreational activities offered by a plurality of activity operators within a geographical area.